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Snippet #2757784

located in Orlais, a part of The Canticle of Fate: Silver Lion Stanza, one of the many universes on RPG.

Orlais

The largest and most powerful nation in Thedas, Orlais sits in the continent's southwest corner. An absolute monarchy, the region is ruled by Emperor Lucien I and Empress Sophia.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Vitorio Sansone Character Portrait: Evelyne Lafleur
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It was a lovely day--well, as lovely as it could be in Riverbend, Evie supposed. The air had always retained an essence of desperation here, instead of the rolling scent of flowers on the wind like in the Gardens. The place was oppressive in comparison. Maybe it was the ambiance that she missed most of all... Or maybe it was her kitchen. Attempting to bake a half-dozen muffins in a rundown shack with what would be an insult to the wood stoves she was used to cooking in took the better part of her morning. The ingredients? The better part of her coin. Maybe she could have skimped on the sugar, or used cheaper flour, or even less chocolate--but Evie didn't do such things in half-measures, especially not her baking.

Not that she couldn't say she didn't enjoy the time she spent over her tiny oven. It was one of the few times she could take her mind off of every thing, even for a moment, and there were plenty of things that wanted to weigh down her shoulders. Even now, she couldn't help but let the thoughts bleed in during the short trip between her now-home and Vito's shop. The revelations that her uncle was well and truly involved in this dark business stung, and no matter which was she looked, there was no escaping it.

So she had to bottle it up. Keep her head down and keep pushing forward. One foot after the other. With her sword on her back. And a covered basket of fresh muffins in her hand. She glanced back up and looked around carefully. Riverbend was dangerous for those unprepared-- her sword maybe the only thing keeping her from getting mugged for the basket. Regardless, she picked up her pace until she finally reached the familiar storefront.

The Elixir Mixer.

Her mother would've enjoyed the shop's name. The sign in the door still indicated that the store was open, and she took the invitation to let herself in. "It's Evie," she announced, "I have presents."

The interior of the shop was still in poor repair, the front window boarded up. Someone—Vito, probably—had lit some magelights to compensate, and they floated freely in the air, a deep purple in color, casting a moody, low light. Timbers were stacked against one wall, what looked to be a large, wrapped glass panel and several buckets of something next to them.

Despite this, the shop was extremely clean, the counter currently manned by Vito himself, a thick book on the table in front of him. He turned a page just as she entered, absently stirring a small cauldron with some kind of implement in his right hand.

He looked up at her announcement, blinking slightly. "Ah, Amatrice. I am always in the mood for accepting gifts. Please come in."

Amatrice. She hoped it was complimentary.

She did as asked and entered the shop properly, shutting the door behind her. It looked much like the last time she'd been there, though this time her view wasn't restricted from a cot. She'd felt helpless, having done nothing of note during the raid just to get unceremoniously laid low by an explosion, all just to be carried back out by Vito. All just another screw up in her cap, it seemed.

She set the basket on the counter near Vito and pulled back the handkerchief to reveal the muffins. "Chocolate, right?"

Vito hummed, tilting his head to inspect them for all of a moment before he plucked one from the basket. Removing the baking paper from the bottom with only one hand was an exercise in deftness, but he managed it, breaking off a chunk of the confection and eating it about as politely as one could, with one's hands, while still in the middle of potionmaking. His brows arched; he hummed something that sounded like approval.

"Chocolate indeed. You've a bit of a knack, don't you?" The question seemed to be rhetorical, because he flashed a brief smile before turning his attention momentarily to the cauldron. Something he'd chopped, some kind of leaf, went in then, before he was able to return his attention to her. "You should feel free to have a seat, by the way. We're a bit lacking in chairs at the moment, but the countertops are clean."

Evie nodded and accepted the open invitation, slinging the sheathed blade off of her shoulder and leaned it up against the counter she lifted herself onto.

"I was raised in a café, though I fell in love with the baking side of things," she explained, half smiling, "I always told myself if nothing else worked out, I could always open up a bakery," she said, only partly in jest. Opening a bakery would require capital, coin she certainly didn't have at the moment, and it wasn't like she could take a loan out any time soon. She definitely couldn't ask her parents. She then frowned at how low her own aspirations had lowered of late. She considered it a success if she could scrounge enough money together to survive the month.

She crossed her arms and looked at the shop once more, biting her bottom lip as she thought. "The riot got to you too, huh?" she asked.

"Too?" Vito inquired, glancing at her askance. It as hard to tell from far away, but this close she could tell that his eyes were actually violet. Not an unheard-of color, by any means, but a rather unusual one. "Did your home also suffer some form of damage?" He raised his stirring-rod, tapping it a few times on the edge of the cauldron to rid it of the last drops of near-blood red and setting it aside. He had a sort of slow, methodical care with the process, it seemed. Unhurried.

He closed his fist, killing the small flame beneath the cauldron, then formed an ice spike in one of his hands and eased it into the iron pot. Steam hissed sharply and rose towards the ceiling, but the smell was only mild—something earthy and slightly bitter.

She leaned over, curiosity finally tweaked by the contents of the cauldron. She pursed her lips trying to deduce the concoction, but was eventually stumped. She simply shrugged and nodded at his question. "I had a rock violently introduce itself to my window." Her only window, might she add. Without that little bit of natural light leaking into her house, now it always felt dark and dreary, even on the sunniest days. "Something it looks like we might have in common," Evie added, pointing at Vito's own boarded up window. Chances were, that was how it'd stay for the foreseeable future too. She didn't really have the income at the moment to replace an entire glass window yet.

"What's that you have there?" Evie finally asked, the curiosity of the pot finally getting to her. "If... you don't mind me asking," she added, reeling herself in.

Vito's smile was entirely too sly for the benign nature of the question. He lifted an eyebrow. "Curiosity is generally an admirable trait, but it does have its drawbacks. This is a tonic for the treatment of a particular type of, ah... intimate rash. I batch-cook it for a few of the local brothels, along with a variety of related items. It's curable, but while the employees are at pains to keep themselves clean, the same can seldom be said for the clients, you understand. A certain amount of pathogenic recidivism is an occupational hazard, so to speak."

Evie frowned and slowly retrieved herself away from the cauldron. "I see," she said flatly. She had rather wished she hadn't asked now.

Vito barked a short laugh. "Do you find that distasteful, Amatrice? That such things are necessary?" His tone gave no hint as to his feelings; he might as well have been asking her about her favorite colors or something equally banal.

"No, no, it's not that, it's just..." she said, before she found herself chewing on her bottom lip again, "I wasn't expecting that answer, is all." She drew her legs up onto the counter as well then, sitting atop of it cross legged, and with a frown forming at her lips. "I forget I'm not still in the Gardens, it slips my mind sometimes." She had undoubtedly seen a couple of the brothels in question while she was out and about, but she never really tried to get a good look.

"A sharp difference, to be sure." Vito did not ask about it, something which could only have been a conscious decision on his part. "Have you found anything to like more now that you're here, or is it all doom and gloom?" Picking up a ladle from its spot on a hook in the wall, Vito started to shift the cooling liquid into glass vials. The color of them, tinted brown, suggested they were made quite cheaply, but considering where the shop was located, that wasn't surprising.

She let her elbows rest on her knees as she began to rub a spot on her thumb. "I'd like to think I'm too optimistic to call it all doom and gloom, but," she said, pursing her lips, "It's not been easy." She felt... stuck, she supposed. No way to go back, no idea how to move forward. She offered her help to Lia and Corvin to try and make things right, of course, but also in an effort to do something that'll finally make a difference. And even then in the end it felt like her help didn't amount to much.

"How about yourself? You seem to wear a lot of jewelry for Riverbend, if you still don't mind my prying," she asked. She couldn't help but wonder how many times someone's attempted to mug him for it, though she kept that thought to herself.

Vito snorted. "Most of it is much cheaper than it looks, Amatrice. The work of skilled counterfeiters. Some of it my own work, though those are slightly less convincing to the discerning eye." He smiled, pinching his sleeve in his hand and spreading it out. He tilted it to catch the light, and she could see something it was hard to notice before: how thin it was, obviously repaired and maintained carefully. With a shrug, he dropped it again.

"But I do not think this is so bad. Comfort is nice to have, but freedom... you can't put a price on that."

"True enough," Evie agreed, "But you have a purpose too," she said, her smile wistful. He had both a shop and a daughter to care after, noble goals both in her eyes. Meanwhile she was still searching out past what little jobs she could scrounge together to keep her head above water. She stared at her hands for a moment or two before she finally tilted her head back toward Vito.

"What do you think of the Lions?" she asked.

Vito went back to filling vials, stoppering each with a cork and shrugging. "I do not think I am the person to ask about them." Laying the full vials aside he summoned water into the cauldron and shifted it around on the counter, stirring it into a miniature vortex. "I know probably less than you do. They are mercenaries, very capable ones. They seem to do good work. For any more than that, I would think Mattone or Spina better to ask."

Well he was probably right with that one. Evie chuckled to herself quietly and nodded in agreement, "I should probably do that," she admitted, finally peeling herself off of his counter top. "Thanks Vito, for hosting me. And for making sure I survived the other day," she truly appreciated both of those things.

She reached down, plucked her sword up, and slung it back over her shoulder. "I'll come back for the basket," she noted, glancing at the muffins, "And if you ever need anything that I can help with, just let me know and I'll be happy to lend a hand," she offered with a bright smile.

"Grazie, Amatrice." He flicked his fingers in a lazy salute. "And for the muffins. I will be sure to share them with Marisol."

"Oh, and tell her I said hi too," Evie tossed back with a smile, and pressed through the exit.